Intro and Overview

Handshake is a naming protocol compatible with DNS. It’s a permissionless project that is invented as a decentralized analog of existing Certificate Authorities. Handshake peers will be validating and managing the root zone without the need to censor, use special permissions or gatekeepers. The main purpose of the project is not to replace the DNS protocol itself, but to replace the root zone file and the root servers with a public commons.

Product description

Technology

Handshake basically is a fork of a bitcoin software developed by Purse that offers a ledger that will record users engagements. Handshake represents a decentralized open platform secured by a decentralized peer-to-peer network.

The project will offer:

Clear and transparent procedures for the sale and registration of domains.

Decentralized proof of domain ownership

Permissionless zone where users can choose to be a host or validator and can add entries.

Top domain names will be reserved as TLDs for existing trademark holders.

Light clients will allow to secure name resolutions and certificates.

Handshake coins (HNS) will be user for domain name registration. Users will use HNS for transferring, registering and making updates to domain names. When mainchain is ready and launched, users will use HNS to conduct auctions and place bids for top-level domains. 70% of the initial coin supply will be granted freely to the Free and Open Source Software community (FOSS).

Market and competitors

OpenNIC – the first attempt to create an alternative domain zone in 2000. It was centralized as well as a main zone ICANN.

The Nametoken is another decentralized domain ecosystem, the first fork of Bitcoin created in 2011, its ICO was launched in August 2017. 90% of the tokens were to be distributed among investors. The project didn’t reach their goal collecting $61,403 during tokensale. Manecoin domains (.bit) аre also based оn the project’s token. Namecoin includes all the features оf Bitcoin and adds an option tо store key-value records in the Blockchain.

EmerCoin is a platform based on the popular virtual currency Peercoin. Some DNS features are also forked from Namecoin. The system uses а second-generation Proof-Оf-Stake algorithm, that allows to develop the system without mining.

Peername– a blockchain-based domain names system that combines all existing on the market options for registering a decentralized domain, including Namecoin, Emercoin,

NXT (Next) is a second-generation cryptocurrency/platform allows to use NXT aliases as domains or for shortening long URL addresses, Bitcoin addresses, phone numbers, physical location and others.

ZeroNet is also a decentralized domain system. Every Zeronet ‘website’ address is a Bitcoin public key, so any visitors can send bitcoin directly to the site owner, even if they have not set up a wallet yet.

Delivery

Roadmap

There is no road map published

Team and advisory board

Despite the fact that the project site does not have a list of the team or advisers, in the publications about the project 4 names of the founding fathers appear quite frequently.

Afilias is a service provider for the .org namespace ($340,000 in tokens) — 0.25% of supply

Brave is a browser which has crypto economic incentives ($340,000 in tokens) — 0.25% of supply

IdenTrust is a certificate authority ($340,000 in tokens) — 0.25% of supply

Comodo is a certificate authority ($340,000 in tokens) — 0.25% of supply

Digicert is a certificate authority ($272,000 in tokens) — 0.2% of supply

Godaddy is a certificate authority ($272,000 in tokens) — 0.2% of supply

GMO GlobalSign is a certificate authority ($136,000 in tokens) — 0.1% of supply

7.5% of tokens will be saved for the founders and principles

The remaining 85% of tokens, worth a combined $115 million, will be freely distributed at launch:

Handshake will offer $250 worth of its tokens to *each* user of the websites the company has partnerships with – GitHub, the P2P Foundation and Freenode.

Some tokens will go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Tor Foundation and other like non-profits, while domains controlled by the protocol will go to those who can cryptographically prove they own one of the top 80,000 websites.

Media and community

It seems that the project is either just beginning to build its community or is not at all interested in the development of ICO traditional channels of communication with potential individual investors. Handshake has a Github profile, an IRC chat and a Reddit page listed on their web page. Their Twitter account has 3187 followers.

The project improves the existing conditional access and domain registration system

Disadvantages

85% of tokens will be distributed for free, that could make the price to go down, when listed on exchange

VC’s consider the project to be an interesting social experiment with an original method of distribution

There are existing competitors on the market that don’t differ much from a technological point of view

Investment prospects

The project is very interesting, its main idea is to rebuild the internet without arranging a confusion among those to whom it belongs now, since 7,5% of tokens will be distributed between 80k biggest domains, moreover 7,5% will be distributed between nonprofit institutions such as: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Tor Foundation and etc. Since there won’t be a public sale all the risks will lie down on 67 individual and institutional investors. However if the project is a success the ROI will be very high.

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